Wirebound box with end cleats



June 29, 1937. G. L. COLBiE WIREBOUND BOX WITH END CLEATS Original Filed Dec. 22, 1932 Patented June 29, 1937 UNITED STATES rice WIREBOUND BOX WITH END CLEATS Gus L. Colbie, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to F. MacGovern Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 22, 1932, Serial No. 648,333

' Renewed October 12, 1936 Claims.

This invention relates to wirebound boxes in which the binding wires are stapled to the panels of the blanks used in making the box, and more specificially comprises an improvement on the 5 method and product described in my co-pending application Ser. No. 608,118 filed April 28, 1932.

In said prior application I have shown in Figs. 16 to 18 a form of .wirebound box in which cleats are fastened to the inner faces of the top, bottom and side panels along the ends of said panels, while the end panels for the box are held against the exterior surfaces of said cleats by binding wires wrapped longitudinally about the completed box. In such construction considerable care is required in forming a joint between the end panels and the ends of the other panels which will remain tight under internal pressure. Also, since the end panels have no stifiening members they may bulge outwardly under the application of any considerable pressure from the contents of the box.

The present invention overcomes these difl'iculties and also facilitates the rapid assembly of the blanks in forming the box by applying external reenforcing cleats to said end panels and running the binding wires along the exterior surfaces of said cleats; panels and cleats and wires being held together in proper relative positions by staples driven around the wires through the cleats and into the panel.

This rearrangement naturally permits the end panels to be placed inside the other cleats which are fastened on the ends of the top, bottom and side panels of the box. Also the wires fastened to the end panels may extend in straight lines across the box ends if the several cleats all have their exterior surfaces in the plane of the box ends. No further fastening for such end panels is then required, and outward pressure from the contents of the box tends to close, rather than to open, the joint between the end panels and their retaining cleats which are fastened to the other panels.

The best form of box at present known to me embodying my invention, and certain steps taken in the process of its formation, are illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a completed box with parts broken away.

Fig. 2 shows a blank from which the box ends are formed.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of another box having certain of the binding wires arranged diagonally of the box and crossed.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on lines 4-4 of Fig.

3 on an enlarged scale with parts broken away, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section on line 55 of Fig. 2. V 1

Throughout the drawing like reference characters indicate like parts. I represents the top panel, la is a bottom panel, and 2 one of the side panels of a box in the formation of which the top, bottom and side panels have been stapled to wires 5, 5, and folded'on said wires as hinges at their adjacent edges after the blank has been so formed. The staples l, l, which hold the wires 5, 5, which run along the panel ends pass through these panels and into cleats 4, 4, located on the inner panel faces; These cleats form stiffening frames for the box ends and the wires hold top, bottom and side panels together when the box is in knockeddown form.

3 and 3a are end panels which are'stapled to wires 6, 6, with cleats. 8, 8, intervening between the wires and the panels, as shown in Fig. 2.

Preferably the cleats 8, 3, are of uniform depth, said depth being equal to the uniform width of the cleats 4, 4. The cleats 8, 8, being made ofa length substantially equal to the distance between the inner surfaces of opposite cleats 4,, 4, When the box is completed permit each end panel to be nested in the box end inside of the cleats 4, 4, at that end, as best shown in Fig; 4, with the outer surfaces of the cleats 8 lying in the same plane with the outer surfaces of the cleats 4, 4, so that the binding wires 6, 6, extending lengthwise around the box, will stretch straight across the box ends and thereby hold the end panels 3, 3a, snugly up against the inner surfaces of the cleats 4, 4.

The larger blanks each consisting of the transverse binding wires 5, 5, and the top, bottom and side panels I, la', 2, are formed on the usual boxmaking machine in a continuous operation, and the end panel blanks, comprising the longitudinally wrapped binding wires 6, 6, and the end panels 3, 3a., are similarly formed on said machine in another continuous operation, the cleats 8, 8, being placed on top of the panels 3, So, as shown in Fig. 2, instead of underneath the panels as is the case when the cleats 4, 4, are applied to the panels I, lit and 2 to form the main blanks.

The wires stapled to the end panels may be twisted together, thereby forming diagonal bracing for the box, as shown at 6a, in broken lines in Fig. 2, or they may be simply crossed, as shown at 61) in Fig. 3, to produce a similar effect, or they may be left parallel one with another as shown in Fig. 1.

When the wires are to be twisted as shown in broken lines at 60. in Fig. 2 they would of course be first stapled to panels 3 and 3min a box-making machine. Said wires would be so applied to the panels in parallel arrangement as usual and as shown in full, but broken-away, lines in Figure 2. Said panels would be spaced apart a distance in excess of the length of the box to be made and of such amount that when said panels were caused to approach nearer together by the twisting of the wires as shown at 6a the end panels would then be in the proper closure arrangement ultimately necessary for use in making the box.

Preferably the ends la of the staples I which are driven through the ends cleats 8, are made long enough to' be bent over and clinched down against the inner surface of the end panel as shown in Fig. 5, so as to securely hold wire, cleat and end panel together.

In assembling the parts to form a box the bottom panel In of the main blank may be placed on the wires 6, 6, between the end panels 3, 3a, of the other blank, which latter should have their cleats 8, 8, beneath them (the reverse of the position shown in Fig. 2). The end panels 3, 3a, may then be turned up to vertical position with their lower edges inside of cleats 4 on the bottom panel. The side panels 2 may then be turned up to vertical positions with their cleats 4, 4, outside of end panels 3, 3a, thus forming an open box with the .cover'raised. When the box has been packed the cover is folded down and the wire ends twisted together, as shown in Fig. 1 or 3 to hold it closed.

Also, after the two blanks have been intermeshed as above described, the side panel 2 to which panel I is hinged may be turned up, the panel I folded down, and the ends of wires 6, 6, twisted together to hold it down. This being done before the wires 5, 5, have their ends twisted together, leaves the other side panel in a free, hinged condition so that the box contents could be inserted through that side when this panel 2 is used as a hinged cover, the box then being turned so that panel 2 becomes the top. After the contents are in place the box would be closed and the ends of wires 5, 5, twisted together.

Among the advantages of the invention may be mentioned the rapidity and ease with which the blanks may be made and assembled and the rigidity and tightness of the completed box ends. All the work except the assembling is done on the box making machine.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. The herein described method of making wirebound boxes which comprises the following steps: forming a box blank by stapling a series of top, bottom and side panels to binding wires extending on one set of panel faces transversely along the ends thereof, the staples also entering a plurality of cleats of uniform width extending along said panel ends on the other faces thereof; then forming a second blank by stapling pairs of cleats having a thickness substantially equal to the width of the first mentioned ones toother wires and to spaced-apart end panels so that each cleat will lie between a wire and panel; next wrapping the first blank about the panel of the second blank while the latter are held in positions adapted to form the ends of the completed box and to lie inside of and against the cleats on the first blank, and finally twisting together the adjacent, oppositely extending ends of each wire.

2. A product of the hereindescribed process, being a wirebound box having a series of cleats of uniform width fastened to the inner faces of the ends of its side, top and bottom panels, all said cleats located at one box end having a uniform width, end panels set inside of and againstv said cleats and each supporting another cleat having a depth substantially equal to .the width of the first mentioned cleats at that end, and extending transversely across the exposed surface of the outer face of said end panel, and a binding wire long enough to extend along the top, bottom and end panels lengthwise around said box and along the outer surface of said last mentioned cleats and fastened thereto with its ends fastened together, whereby said end panels are reenforced by said wire and cleats and held in place thereby.

3. A product such as defined in claim 2 in which said end panel is fastened to said reenforcing cleat and to said wire by staples extending around the wire and through said cleat into said panel.

' 4. A wirebound box such as defined in claim 2 in which there are two binding wires extending lengthwise around said box and these extend diagonallyalong the panels intermediate of the.

box ends.

5. The process of making a wirebound box which comprises the following steps: formingthe blank for the open-ended body portion of abox, forming an end-panel blank for such box by wiring together such end-panels in parallel relation one to another with an unoccupied space between them substantially equal to the length of such box and with the free ends of the wire jointly exceeding such length, assembling said blanks and fastening together the free ends of the wiring.

GUS L. COLBIE. 

